


Event Horizon

by melonbread (ApocalypseUmbra)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, IN SPACE!, M/M, Reunions, Space Pirates, Spaceships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-06 01:18:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11025558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApocalypseUmbra/pseuds/melonbread
Summary: Space.The final frontier.As far as mankind can go.A limitless universe, full of possibility. Or so Ennoshita had thought. The reality of space travel had a lot more paperwork that he had expected. When an old flame finds his way back to Ennoshita, he can't help but be pulled in.





	Event Horizon

For all the work he’d put in, Ennoshita had expected to like space travel a lot more than he did.

Four years of college and then two years of basic training had made him think that some exciting disaster would just around the bend every day. Like going through an asteroid belt. Or going through a black hole. Or at least getting involved in some interplanetary politics. He would even settle for the gravity getting turned off for a day. Just _something._

Not that he exactly _wanted_ something bad to happen, but being told you were among the Earth’s best and brightest and being trained for the worst case scenario made his pencil-pushing job all the more painful.

The ISS _Venture_ was big enough that you sometimes forgot you were even on a ship in outer space. If you managed to avoid passing a window, it could just be a very sleek-looking office building. Like a high-tech start-up. Or a really rich magazine office. Maybe he should have gone into journalism. He guessed there would be a least a little more freedom there. For all that he loved space, Ennoshita hated the amount of bureaucracy they had managed to shove in the place. _Best and brightest, my ass_ , he seethed to himself. If he was the best, he shouldn’t have to go through five different supervisors to figure out who got these goddamn flash drives.

On the other hand, even if he figured out who was getting said goddamn flash drives, which he hoped weren’t critically important since he had wasted a lot of time going to his other four superior officers, he wasn’t sure he would be able to find where he was supposed to be going. A map would have been helpful. A map would also have been what a rational person would have thought to bring. Ennoshita obviously did not fall into that category. He had ended up back in the common area. Again. _Damn._

The dozen or so off-duty crew members gave him only a glance; he had already been here three times in the past hour. The big bay windows, covered by at least a foot of Plexiglas, showed an endless expanse of stars. Ennoshita knew there were planets at least relatively nearby, but still. The cold nothingness was just a bit lonely. And boring. There had been rumors of some scavengers roaming the star system, and that was the only hint of something disrupting the usual routine. Ennoshita almost hoped they would try something. They wouldn’t have a chance in hell of taking the ship, but at least it would be fun to see them try.

The situation was giving him a headache. Maybe the flash drives weren’t supposed to go to a department at all. Maybe this was just busy work to keep him away from anything important. Maybe it was a conspiracy.

“I thought you were giving those to Hanamaki?” a voice said from behind Ennoshita. He turned away from the window and saw Sawamura, his immediate superior officer, a few steps away.

Ennoshita sighed. “No, he said they go to Research and Development, but Akaashi said they go to Azumane, and Azumane thinks they might be for Kuroo? But he wasn’t in his office, so I’m trying to find him.”

“Hope it’s not urgent,” Sawamura replied.

“Well, I’ve been trying to figure this out for the past hour,” Ennoshita said. “If they were that important, the ship would have collapsed already.”

Suddenly, the lights flashed red, then back to white, then red again. A calm, cool voice spoke over the PA system. “Attention all crew. The ISS _Venture_ is under attack. All non-combatant personnel are asked to proceed to their cabins quickly and quietly. All combatants are to await instructions from their commanders. Thank you.”

A beat of silence after the announcement, then a flurry of movement and chatter. Ennoshita, still by the window, took the opportunity to see if he could spot what was going on. The view was just as it had been a moment ago. He supposed the attack was on the other side of the ship. Ennoshita sighed; even when something miraculously broke routine, it wasn’t even happening near him. What a letdown.

“Ennoshita, are you coming?” Sawamura asked, already heading towards the door.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” Ennoshita replied. He took a step forwards, but forgot about the mess of flash drives in his hands. “ _Fuck_ ,” he muttered as literally every drive fell and scattered across the floor.

“You’re not having the best day, are you?” Sawamura asked, as he bent down to help pick them up.

“No,” Ennoshita replied vehemently. “You go on ahead, I’ll handle this.”

“You sure?” Sawamura asked. Ennoshita rolled his eyes and nodded. “Alright. I’ll see you later then.”

The room emptied out surprisingly fast. Ennoshita was alone within the minute. He hoped the flash drives weren’t broken, although that would be a great bit of karma for all the annoyance he had suffered through today. One drive had ended up skipping across the floor over in front of the door. Ennoshita crawled over and, just as he was picking it up, the door swept open. He expected to see another crew member, probably Sawamura again, coming to fetch him. What he didn’t expect were old, cracked leather boots, a worn trench coat, and a bizarre metal mask. Distantly, he assumed the mask would allow the wearer to breathe in space, but the rest of his mind was pretty occupied with screaming and random snatches of thoughts such as _I’m about to die, space pirate,_ and _god, his coat is hideous._

He was pretty sure the one about dying was going to be the most accurate. The figure looked down at him. Ennoshita shut his eyes and waited for the end.

“Chikara?” a muffled voice asked. Ennoshita’s eyes shot open. With the push of a button, the mask came off, revealing the face of none other than Tanaka Ryuunosuke, former Epsilon Space Academy student, who dropped out years before completing basic training. Ennoshita had assumed he had given up on going to space. He guessed he had been wrong.

“Tanaka?” Ennoshita asked in return, on the off chance he was wrong. That would be incredibly unlikely, given how well he had known Tanaka. Which was much better than he was willing to admit. But he looked different. The years hadn’t been entirely kind; he had a long, thin scar running along his jawline, and his buzz cut was shaved into jagged patterns. It looked like he was trying pretty hard to be cool, all in all.

“I’m Tanaka now?” Tanaka replied, smile dropping off his face. “Come on man, you know me better than that.”

“ _Knew_ you. Past tense,” Ennoshita scoffed. “I’m not the one who _left_.”

"Are you still mad at me?" Tanaka asked, wincing as though he gave a damn about Ennoshita's feelings.

"No, I'm not mad," Ennoshita told him, lying. "I don't even think about you. Not since you ran off to be a  _space pirate!_ _"_

“So we’re starting there,” Tanaka sighed.

“Yeah, because that’s where you left it!” Ennoshita shot back.

"You know I didn't want to leave you behind, right?" Tanaka said. He opened his mouth to say something else. but Ennoshita steam-rolled over him before he could speak.

“Just leave, don’t give me any warning," he said. "And to twist the knife, don’t even break up with me! Just leave!”

“We didn’t, like, really break up,” Tanaka said. “Wasn’t it just a break?”

“If it was a break, you would have come back,” Ennoshita said coldly. “If you had cared, you would have at least told me you were leaving!”

“Dude. You know we had something,” Tanaka said. He sounded genuinely sad. _Good,_ Ennoshita thought savagely.

“Once again, past tense,” Ennoshita sighed. “I’m pretty sure that was before you completely disappeared without warning.”

“Communication is hard in space,” Tanaka replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “Look, I’m sorry. I would’ve come back for you.”

Ennoshita gave a short, entirely sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, I’ll wait the rest of my life for you to come back from being a space criminal. Great plan.”

“I’m not that much of a criminal,” Tanaka said defensively.

“Oh, says the guy who literally just broke onto this ship,” Ennoshita snorted. “Go do your space crimes or whatever. I’m going to go before I get caught _fraternizing with the enemy_.”

“Hey, we’ve done more that fraternize and you know it,” Tanaka snapped back, finally sounding a little mad. Ennoshita didn't like to spike of satisfaction he felt at that. “What, your job is more interesting than a pirate attack?”

“It’s a job that needs to get done,” Ennoshita said haughtily, ignoring that fact that he didn’t even know what was on the flash drives nor how important they were.

“Come on, we just reunited!" Tanaka coaxed. "Don’t you feel anything?”

“Yeah I’m feeling something,” Ennoshita replied. “Annoyance. Exasperation. Mild disgust.”

“Aw, come on, you don’t mean that,” Tanaka wheedled.

“By the way, your hair is awful,” Ennoshita said, wrinkling his nose. “Why would you do that to yourself?”

Tanaka self-consciously rubbed his head. “No, it’s cool, isn’t it? Everyone told me it looked cool.”

“They lied,” Ennoshita informed him. “You look like a douche.”

“Chikara!” Tanaka exclaimed, offended. “You don’t have to go that far!”

“Well, I did. And stop calling me ‘Chikara,’ it’s weird,” Ennoshita said.

“What else am I supposed to call you?” Tanaka asked.

“My name. Ennoshita. That’s all,” he replied.

“I _am_ calling you by your name,” Tanaka said. “I think we know each other well enough for that!”

“Not anymore,” Ennoshita told him. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. You’ll be gone again soon enough.”

“It’s been so long since we saw each other,” Tanaka sighed. “Can’t we catch up a little?”

“We wouldn’t have to catch up if you had just _stayed in school_ ,” Ennoshita said, pushing past Tanaka into the hallway behind him. Tanaka fell into step beside him. Neither of them said a word for long enough that Ennsohita was close to saying something just to make it less awkward. 

“So how are things?” Tanaka asked, finally breaking the silence. Ennoshita shot him a look that sent him shrinking away. “Just trying to make conversation.”

“Things were fine until a bunch of space pirates attacked my ship,” Ennoshita replied.

Tanaka winced. “Harsh. At least we broke up routine, right?”

Ennoshita didn’t want to admit that he agreed. “I’d rather just get my work done. Routine is fine by me,” he lied.

“Sounds boring,” Tanaka said. His blunt honestly, loath as Ennoshita was to admit it, was one of his best qualities. “You look like you’re having a ton of fun with those flash drives.”

“Work is work,” Ennoshita shrugged. “I don’t need constant danger to feel fulfilled. Unlike certain other people I could name.” He was determined not to let Tanaka know how right he was. It would be too damaging to his pride.

“See, that’s just why I left the academy,” Tanaka said without missing a beat, shaking his head. “What’s the point of going to space if you’re not having adventures?”

“Research. Exploration. Diplomacy,” Ennoshita rattled off. All things the people in charge preached about in the academy and training videos and pep talks. They sounded nice, but in retrospect, they were pretty empty.

“Adventure is the same as exploration,” Tanaka snorted. “Just more exciting. And, what, you’re going on missions and stuff?”

“I will be, soon enough,” Ennoshita replied hastily. “As soon as I work my way up the ladder.”

“Dude,” Tanaka said. “That sounds so boring.”

“No it’s not,” Ennoshita said defensively. “I’ll be able to do whatever I want when I’m in charge.”

“Nah, you’ll just have more responsibilities,” Tanaka pointed out. “You’ll have less time to do what you want.”

“Oh, and you’re free as a bird, aren’t you?” Ennoshita snapped. “Pirates don’t have a hierarchy?”

“Of course we do,” Tanaka replied. “Just not as strict or as important. Don’t yell at me just because your job sucks.”

“It doesn’t _suck_ ,” Ennoshita snarled, stopping short and glaring at Tanaka. “Go back to your pack of thieves if you’re just going to be rude.”

“No, come on, I just want to talk!” Tanaka stammered. He caught Ennoshita’s sleeve. Ennoshita would have just shook him off, except for the genuine look of sadness in Tanaka’s face. “Chikara.”

“What,” Ennoshita murmured, letting Tanaka take a step closer until their noses were practically touching.

“I really missed you,” he whispered. Their lips almost brushed, but not quite. Ennoshita was so close to bridging the gap himself. Just as he was about to lean forwards, he heard voices from down the hall. Ennoshita jerked away from Tanaka, who looked crestfallen, but neither of them had time to nurse his feelings; Ennoshita had to either turn him in or hide the both of them. At this point, there wasn't much of a choice.

“Follow me,” Ennoshita hissed, grabbing Tanaka’s hand and pulling him forwards. He though he heard a few flash drives fall, but they were suddenly the least of his worries. Tanaka caught on quickly; he let Ennoshita drag him around. They ran through another door and Ennoshita glanced around until he saw another door labelled 'Maintenance.' That was good enough. “Get in,” Ennoshita ordered.

Tanaka clambered into the closet and Ennoshita shoved himself in behind and shut the door just as footsteps approached. “I could have sworn I’d heard someone,” a voice muttered outside the door. Ennoshita guessed there were only two out there; hopefully they would leave quickly.

“Could have just been your imagination,” another voice replied. Ennoshita’s breathing was shallow. Both the fear of being caught and the press of Tanaka’s body against him were fraying his nerves beyond belief. He was glad the closet was entirely dark; if Tanaka saw how red his face was, he would never live it down.

“Chikara,” Tanaka whispered. Ennoshita felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Shut up,” Ennoshita hissed.

“We need to talk,” Tanaka continued, still whispering.

“Not here!” Ennoshita shushed.

“Then where?”

“Somewhere else!” Ennoshita furiously whispered.

“There, did you hear that?” the first voice said outside the door. Ennoshita and Tanaka froze. Ennoshita could feel his heart about to jump out of his chest. If he got caught tangled up with a space pirate, getting fired was going to be the least of his worries. He’d probably be arrested. Tanaka too. Sent to space jail. Shot out an airlock. Killed? Probably not, but he may as well be dead if he ruined his career like this; he’d shoot himself out the airlock if he had to.

Shockingly, the thought of Tanaka getting in trouble was just as worrying as his own wellbeing. There was a long pause before the second voice replied.

“No, I don’t hear anything. Come on, we have to keep moving.” The footsteps started up again and went down the hall. Ennoshita waited until they faded out of hearing and then another few seconds after. Finally, he cracked open the door. The hallway was empty again. He finally let out a breath and dropped the rest of the flash drives.

“So when _are_ we going to talk?” was the first thing out of Tanaka’s mouth. Ennoshita shot him a venomous glare.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, we almost got caught!” Ennoshita snarled. “I would have gotten fired, we both would have gotten arrested, and neither of us could do anything then!”

“Okay, but we didn’t!” Tanaka protested. “We’re fine! We’re totally in the clear!”

“We’re nowhere _close_ to the clear!” Ennoshita replied hotly. “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re still a glorified burglar, I’m still an accomplice, and we’re both about two seconds away from getting caught!”

“Wait. An accomplice?” Tanaka asked. “You’re going to help me?”

“I already helped you,” Ennoshita replied, trying in vain to calm himself down. “But I’ll help you again. For…old time’s sake.”

“What about for now time’s sake?” Tanaka asked slyly.

“Are you really trying to come on to me? Now?” Ennoshita huffed. “I told you, we don’t have time for this.”

“Hey, a guy can try,” Tanaka replied, hands up in mock surrender.

“A guy can also fail,” Ennoshita said, rolling his eyes. “Where’s your ship?”

“It’s not my ship,” Tanaka started. He stopped when Ennoshita gave him a scathing look. “It’s a ways away. I can figure it out if you give me a minute here, I have to think about it backwards.”

“What the fuck does that mean?!” Ennoshita demanded to know.

“I have to think about how I got here, and go back from there!” Tanaka replied.

“Can’t you call someone or something?” Ennoshita asked. “You can’t have left your pirate ship unattended!”

“Shit, you’re right!” Tanaka said brightly. He pulled his collar up to his mouth and started talking into it. “Hey, Noya? Dude, I’m so lost right now.”

A tinny voice piped through the collar, saying, “For real? Everyone else got back ages ago, where are you?”

“Outside a closet.”

“You got out of the closet a long time ago, man. Like, where are you physically.”

Tanaka rolled his eyes. “Outside a closet!”

“Ohhh, oh okay, gotcha. So, like, where should we pick you up?”

“Oh my god!” Ennoshita huffed. “Tell them to bring the ship to the loading dock and pick you up there!”

“Alright, chill,” Tanaka told him. “Go to the loading dock and I’ll meet you there.”

“How are you going to get it open?”

“Don’t worry, man,” Tanaka replied. “I got a guy on the inside to help.”

“Whoa, you got a guy on the inside? That’s sick.”

“You do not have a guy on the inside,” Ennoshita corrected. “You have a guy trying to get you _outside_.”

“Right,” Tanaka muttered. “Alright, just meet me there, I’ll find a way.”

“Copy that,” the voice said. “See you soon, dude.”

Tanaka dropped his collar and said, “So how do we get to the loading dock?”

Ennoshita sighed. “Just follow me.” He walked off down the hallway and heard Tanaka once again fall into step beside him. It wasn’t far to the loading dock and then Tanaka would be out his life, possibly for good this time. Ennoshita almost expected to feel relieved. Instead, he felt even more lonely than he had before. “Can you answer one question before you go back?”

“Sure,” Tanaka said immediately. “Anything.”

“Why did you leave? Not just school, or the space program, but…” Ennoshita voice trailed off a bit. “…why did you leave _me?_ ”

Tanaka looked away. He took a deep breath before replying. “I had to. You know how it was. It was…so stifling. I hated it.”

“But you were good,” Ennoshita protested. “Better than I was. You could have gotten a real job here, not just been some…some pencil-pusher like I am.”

“I _needed_ to go,” Tanaka said, finally looking him in the eye. “I didn’t want to live like that, all beaten down and stuck in piles of paperwork. I wanted to be _free_.”

 _So do I_ , Ennoshita thought. “I wasn’t enough to get you to stay, I guess,” he tried to laugh, though it sounded a bit more watery than he wanted.

“No, wait, it didn’t have anything to do with us,” Tanaka said hurriedly, stopping in his tracks. He faced Ennoshita and grabbed his hands. “I wanted to tell you, I swear. I just…I thought you would have convinced me to stay. I knew you would have. I couldn’t have left if I had known what it would have meant to you.”

“You must have known,” Ennoshita muttered. “Didn’t you feel the same way I did?”

“ _Yes_ , I did, I _swear_ ,” Tanaka told him. “Chikara, I loved you. I never stopped.”

Of course he had. Ennoshita couldn’t have imagined the way Tanaka used to look at him back when they were cadets. The smile on his face when they used to sneak around corners after curfew to get some alone time. Any time spent with Tanaka was exhilarating; falling in love had been the biggest adventure of his life. In all honesty, he had loved being in love more than he had loved the idea of going to space. Once Tanaka had left, the spark had been gone. Ennoshita went through the motions, got promoted, got where he wanted to be, but he still wasn’t happy. He wondered, would he be happy here if Tanaka had been by his side? _Yes,_ he answered himself. _But he hadn’t been_.

Ennoshita looked away. “We need to get you to your ship.”

Tanaka let go. “Yeah. Can’t leave them waiting.”

They were silent the rest for the way. Ennoshita couldn’t help but feel like he had messed up his last chance with Tanaka. He wished he didn’t care so much, or that he could just throw away whatever feelings he had for Tanaka. But he couldn’t just throw away his life for some whirlwind romance with a pirate. What would stop Tanaka from leaving again if he got bored? The loading dock was a big, almost empty space. When the ship got deliveries, the room would be taken over by a huge transport craft. Now, though, it was hollow, almost eerie in how empty it was.

“Here we are,” Ennoshita said. “You can take one of the escape pods and get your ship to pick you up.”

“…Thanks,” Tanaka replied, more subdued than Ennoshita was used to. _Of course he is,_ Ennoshita told himself. _He told you he loved you, and you told him to leave._

“I’m glad I got you see you again,” Ennoshita said, turning to face Tanaka. He was suddenly engulfed in a hug. Tanaka smelled like dust and little like old leather. It was comforting.

“Just…just let me say goodbye, okay?” Tanaka whispered. Ennoshita only nodded. He tentatively wrapped his arms around Tanaka, who only leaned further into the embrace. Ennoshita knew that he shouldn’t be letting this go on as long as he was, but he couldn’t help it. He decided to let himself be selfish for just another couple seconds.

“Dude,” the tinny voice said from Tanaka’s collar. “We’re outside, we gotta go. Are you ready?”

Tanaka slowly pulled away. He spoke into his collar. “Yeah. I’m gonna shoot myself out in an escape pod, so you guys have to pick me up.”

“Roger that. See you in a few,” the voice said before going quiet.

“So. This is it,” Ennoshita said awkwardly.

“Yeah,” Tanaka replied. He turned away and made his way over to the escape pod docks. He reached the pod and opened it before finally speaking. “Just so you know, I meant what I said. About loving you. Even if you don’t feel the same.”

Ennoshita felt his heart squeeze. “Ryuu, wait!”

Tanaka turned around, his face full of hope. When Ennoshita kissed him, it felt like something inside him had finally clicked. As if something had been knocked loose and was only now being put back in place. It felt _right._

“Hey, you!” a voice yelled from the dock doors. Ennoshita pulled away to see two guards running towards them. In a split second, he made the only decision his heart would be able to accept.

“Get in the pod!” he shouted to Tanaka before shoving him in. Ennoshita climbed in after him. The pod was just big enough for two. Ennoshita slammed the door shut and hit the ignition. The pod rocketed out into empty space, leaving the guards and the _Venture_ behind. Ennoshita watched as it grew smaller, before Tanaka rounded on him.

“Wha—you—you just _left!_ Just like that!” he sputtered. Ennoshita kissed him again. It was just as perfect as before.

“I know,” Ennoshita said simply, grinning.

“But…but your job! The ladder! All of that!” Tanaka shouted. “Why?”

“I couldn’t let you leave me again,” Ennoshita replied. He felt like he was on top of the world. “That was probably the most exciting thing I’ve ever done.”

“…You’re way too cool, you know that?” Tanaka huffed. He looked almost mad about it.

Ennoshita took his hand. “Well, someone has to be the cool one in this relationship.”

“Hey, I’m super cool!” Tanaka pouted. “Chikara, tell me I’m cool!”

“So cool,” Ennoshita told him in the flattest voice he could muster.

_“Chikara!”_

“Hey, is that your ship?” Ennoshita asked as a slightly beat-up ship came into view.

“Yup. The _Peregrine_ ,” Tanaka said, sounding so proud Ennoshita almost thought it might be his. "Isn't she great?"

“Looks old,” Ennoshita said, mostly teasing, as the ship extended an arm to pull the pod in.

“Hey, she’s a loyal ship!” Tanaka protested. “I’ve never seen a more beautiful craft.”

“You might want to get your eyes checked then,” Ennoshita laughed as he took Tanaka’s hand. “But I like it. It’ll be fun, right?”

“You’re gonna have the time of your life!” Tanaka replied, practically glowing.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Ennoshita said as he made his way to a new adventure, Tanaka by his side.

 

**Author's Note:**

> had this sick idea, wrote this over the weekend, gonna just pop this in here bc i haven't posted anything in a while lol. my big giant monster of a fic is v scary and slow going. anyway. SPACE PIRATES. that's what we all want in our hearts, i'm sure.  
> (in case anyone wanted to know, the only thing on the flash drives were pictures of kuroo's cat back on earth)  
> tumblr is @melonbread


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